The People's Democratic Movement is a

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular area's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology, ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea, officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is an island country in Oceania that comprises the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and offshore islands in Melanesia, a region of the southwestern Pacific Ocean n ...

. It was founded by

Paias Wingti Paias Wingti (born 2 February 1951) is a Papua New Guinean politician. He served as the third Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, prime minister of Papua New Guinea between 1985 and 1988, and again from 1992 to 1994. Early life and education Win ...

in 1985, after his faction left the

Pangu Party The Pangu Pati (Pangu Party), officially Papua na Niugini Yunion Pati (), is a nationalist and developmentalist political party in Papua New Guinea. The party is the oldest political party in Papua New Guinea and has held all levels of government ...

. Wingti served as prime minister from 1985 to 1988 and from 1992 to 1994. He was later replaced as leader by

Mekere Morauta Sir Mekere Morauta (12 June 1946 – 19 December 2020) was a Papua New Guinean politician and economist who served as the 7th Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 1999 to 2002. Inheriting a depressed economy and a fractious legislature, h ...

who also served as prime minister during his leadership of the PDM from 1999 to 2002. The party won 13 of 109 seats at the 2002 general election. It became the second largest party in Parliament, but the largest party, the National Alliance Party led by

Michael Somare Sir Michael Thomas Somare (9 April 1936 – 25 February 2021) was a Papua New Guinean politician. Widely called the " father of the nation" (), he was the first Prime Minister after independence. At the time of his death, Somare was also the lo ...

formed the government. The PDM joined the opposition in the

National Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

. Before the 2007 general elections, Morauta lost the leadership of the party and founded his own party, the Papua New Guinea Party, while Wingti became the leader of the PDM again. At the 2007 general elections, the PDM was heavily defeated, winning 5 seats in Parliament. Wingti was among those who lost their seats, and Morauta’s new Papua New Guinea Party became the largest opposition party with 8 seats. The PDM left the opposition and joined Somare’s coalition government. In the 2012 general election, all 6 PDM members joined other parties before going into the election, with Wingti returning in Western Highlands Regional to become the Governor of the Province, and Tommy Tomscholl elected in Middle Ramu Open. Tomscholl was appointed Minister for Agriculture and Livestock by

Peter O'Neill Peter Charles Paire O'Neill (born 13 February 1965) is a Papua New Guinean politician who served as the seventh Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea from 2011 to 2019. He has been a Member of Parliament for Ialibu-Pangia since 2002. He was a fo ...

, but subsequently defected to O'Neill's People's National Congress, leaving Wingti as the party's sole MP. Joe Koim Komun of

Jiwaka Province Jiwaka is a province of Papua New Guinea. The government gazetted provincial capital is located in Kurumul. Temporarily all provincial matters are handled in Minj after the election of the new Governor in 2022 general elections. Matters concernin ...

has since joined PDM, having formerly sat as an independent. As of May 2019, the party had one seat in the National Parliament.

References

Political parties in Papua New Guinea *Main {{PapuaNewGuinea-party-stub